Duterte firing more officials

Another chairman, 3 PNP officers next

As part of his intensified anti-corruption purge, President Duterte is set to fire another chairman of a government agency, three police generals, and dozens of other cops.

“I am not a saint. I have also my faults in life. But money has never been really an issue to me. I am in the thick of firing people,” the President said during a closed-door Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation (Pagcor) event at the Manila Hotel last Thursday.

“I am firing another chairman of an entity in government, maybe this week, and another set of mga policemen,” he said in a speech released by the Palace yesterday. “I intend to fire another, maybe 70 or 49 policemen and three generals for corruption in the next few days,” he added.

The President has renewed his firm resolve to weed out corrupt officials in government, saying, “This is really a purging regime.”

He said he will not tolerate corruption, which, he added, has pulled down the nation for many years.

“I think that I have been spending a lot of time just to clean up government. I would consume four years for the time that I would be there,” he said. “I have fired so many before and I will fire so many of you now and in the future,” he added.

The President recently relieved several officials over their frequent foreign travels and other anomalies. The last was Maritime Industry Authority (Marina) Administrator Marcial Amaro III for his 24 foreign travels in the last two years.

The President’s next target in the anti-corruption purge will be local government officials.

“The President stated that he will continue with the process of cleansing the bureaucracy,” presidential spokesman Harry Roque said. “He will now turn more of his attention to local government units, including the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao.”